Li-Cycle bags €6.4 mn govt. grant for its lithium-ion battery recycling facility

Li-Cycle Germany GmbH, a subsidiary of battery recycling firm Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., recently received approval from the State of Saxony-Anhalt for a grant of up to €6.4 million for its lithium-ion battery recycling facility 'Germany Spoke', located in Sülzetal. 

The facility has an annual lithium-ion battery processing capacity of up to 10,000 tons per year, with potential to expand up to 30,000 tons per year, making it one of the largest battery recycling facilities in the whole of Europe.

The grant is part of the "Improving the Regional Economic Structure" program by the government of Saxony-Anhalt to development clean investments in the region. Minister of Economy for Saxony-Anhalt Mr. Sven Schulze had also visited the facility at the time of the announcement. 

"We would like to extend our gratitude to Minster Schulze and Saxony-Anhalt for providing this grant approval, which further endorses the positive impact of our technologies and our ability to support clean energy jobs in Germany," said Richard Storrie, Regional President, EMEA at Li-Cycle. 

"Li-Cycle aims to help create a regional closed loop ecosystem of critical battery materials to support green energy goals for Germany and the EU, while accelerating the transition to electric vehicles", he added.

The Germany Spoke, opened in August last year as the company's first 'Spoke' in Europe, utilizes Li-Cycle's patented technology to sustainably recycle lithium-ion battery materials in a safe and efficient submerged shredding process.

The facility can also process full EV and energy storage battery packs without the need for disassembly, discharging, or thermal processes. It is capable of recycling all types of lithium-ion battery materials regardless of chemistry or form factor.

Li-Cycle's 'Spokes' are basically pre-processing facilities to recycle battery manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries to produce black mass, a powder-like substance which contains a number of valuable metals, including lithium, nickel and cobalt.

At 'Hubs', or post-processing facilities, the company plans to process black mass to produce critical battery-grade materials, including lithium carbonate, for the lithium-ion battery supply chain.